The Boston University Shuttle may be a convenient and free ride for some students, but students living in Danielsen Hall said they think the BUS is a BUSt.
The BUS currently picks up Danielsen residents at 15-minute intervals during the week, but on the return trip, students have to wait 45 minutes for the BUS to go through the Medical Campus and loop back around before they can be dropped off at their dorm.
College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Ben Kemper decided to do something about it.’ Kemper moved to Danielsen in October and said it is ‘laughable’ that the closest Danielsen residents can get home on weekdays without waiting for the BUS to make its way back from the Medical Campus is Morse Auditorium.
‘A couple of weeks ago, the morning snow turned into rain and all the streets and sidewalks were completely inundated,’ he said. ‘It took me 25 minutes to walk back, and, in that time, I had completely ruined all the clothes I was wearing.
‘That same day, I wrote the petition,’ he said.’
So far, 80 people, all Danielsen residents, have signed the petition, but Kemper said he is looking to get 100 signatures before he submits it to Parking and Transportation Director Dwight Atherton. Students have been soliciting signatures as they wait for the BUS each morning, with a copy of the petition hanging on the free expression board in Danielsen.
Kemper said he has been emailing Atherton since December, but Atherton does not know about the petition effort. Kemper said he had proposed to Atherton the creation of another BUS route that includes a drop-off for Danielsen students. He also suggested a Kenmore Square stop.
Kemper said Atherton responded in a Jan. 29 email that the two routes would cost too much money and diminish the quality of service. Atherton also said in the same email that a Kenmore Square stop would not be possible because people not part of the BU community would end up taking advantage of the BUS.
Although students said they appreciate the increased night and weekend hours of the BUS that began last semester, they think the overall lack of transportation is a huge drawback to living in Danielsen.
School of Management sophomore Matt Marshall, a Danielsen resident, said that he knows a handful of people who have transferred from Danielsen because of its distance from the center of campus.
‘The night BUS schedule is good to return from outings, but currently during the week, it is just not fair that Danielsen students have to walk,’ Marshall said. ‘There is no good way to get back from . . . a central area of campus.’
College of Communication sophomore Spencer Cook, another resident, said he agreed.
‘The BUS not running here makes Danielsen a less desirable place to live because it already is so far,’ he said. ‘Then, add the fact that you can only take the BUS one way makes it that much farther.’
College of Fine Arts sophomore Emily Miller, who also lives in Danielsen, said she has to go even farther than most students to take her classes, which are located at the Huntington Theater. Each day, she has to alternate between the MBTA’ bus and the T.
‘With using both forms of public transportation, I’ve been racking up a big bill,’ she said.
Kemper said that Atherton told him in the email that BU is still looking for a workable solution to the problem. Atherton, however, is on vacation until late February, and will not be able to conduct any more research until he returns.
‘Frankly, we pay about $50,000 a year to go here, and I think BU transportation for all students is a fairly basic requisite for campus safety,’ Kemper said.
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Hey, what about South Campus? When I lived there, every building was a minimum 15 minute walk, and that part of campus has never had, and currently still doesn’t have, any form of transportation (BU-sponsored or otherwise) to/from campus other than walking. Quit whining. <p/>And as far as “safety concerns” go, I’ve since started attending a different Boston-area school for a graduate program, and there were more muggings and armed-robberies of students in and around my current campus in my first month here than in my entire four years at BU. Either something has gone horribly wrong on campus in the last two years (which I sincerely doubt) or you’re rambling about “safety concerns” in a lame attempt to give your complaints some sort of legitimacy. Grow up, and get to walking. (Besides, shouldn’t all that walking help you prevent the dreaded “freshman 15?”)